NZ247087A

NZ247087A - Battery lamp for bicycle; removable battery case secured in lamp housing when mounted on cycle bracket

Info

Publication number: NZ247087A
Application number: NZ247087A
Authority: NZ
Inventors: Masao Shoji
Original assignee: Cateye Co Ltd
Priority date: 1992-03-13
Filing date: 1993-03-09
Publication date: 1994-09-27
Also published as: EP0560328A1; JP2569372Y2; AU661375B2; DE69300232T2; US5378553A; DE69300232D1; CA2091599C; JPH0572685U; AU3510993A; HK1007125A1; EP0560328B1; CA2091599A1

Description

<div class="application article clearfix" id="description"> JOB Patents Form Piio..., r' C-,:. - r'-,- <&=>7.3<<3[**2j 6fe2jliloa,-6p^3<5i loo; l>btrAll/o r u o.' r-' n 2 7 SEP 199<* N.Z. No. NEW ZEALAND Patents Act 1953 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION BATTERY CASE ATTACHMENT UNIT HAVING RETAINING MEANS TO PREVENT MOVEMENT OF THE BATTERY. We, CATEYE CO., LTD., a Japanese corporation of 8-25, Kuwazu 2-chome, Higashisumiyoshi-ku, Osaka, Japan do hereby declare the invention, for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement: - -I - (Followed by 1A) ^ V\\* \ ' . 24 5 Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a battery case attachment unit and, more specifically, to an attaching unit of a battery case used for a head lamp and the like for a component for bicycles and motorcycles. 10 Description of the Background Art Fig. 6 is a cross section showing a conventional structure of a head lamp attached to a part of a bicycle. Referring to the figure, a bulb 17 for illuminating ahead through a lens unit 5 is contained in the left side 15 portion of a head lamp body 1, while a battery case 3 accommodating a battery therein is accommodated in a battery case housing 4 of the head lamp body 1 on the right side of the figure. A bracket 7 which is fixed on a handle or the like of 20 the bicycle includes an attaching piece 11 and an attaching piece 13 rotatable around a pin 9, which attaching pieces are fastened to the handle or the like by means of a bolt 14. The head lamp body 1 can be slidably attached on the bracket 7 by fitting on a rail-like 25 protrusion 21 provided on the top surface of the bracket,,^ -jA- V \* ^ Rr s v a I with a groove 19 provided at the lower surface of the head lamp body 1. A retainer 23 is provided between a stopper holding portion 24 on the lower surface of battery case housing 4 of head lamp body 1 and a lower surface of an 5 inserting portion 3 3 of the accommodated battery case 3. Retainer 23 is formed of an resilient body such as ebonite, and it has a cross section of a vertical V with a protrusion 25 being the center. Attaching and detaching operations of battery case 3 10 to head lamp body 1 will be described. After the battery is accommodated therein, battery case 3 is gradually inserted to the battery case housing of head lamp body 1. Before the insertion of battery case 3, protrusion 25 is located at an upper portion. 15 However, when an end portion of battery case 3 is brought into contact with projection 25 as battery case 3 is inserted, protrusion 25 of retainer 23 moves downward against its resiliency. When insertion of battery case 3 is completed in this state, a recess 26 provided at an 20 inserting portion 33 of battery case 3 is positioned corresponding to protrusion 25 of retainer 23. At that position, protrusion 25 of retainer 23 is fixed in recess 26 of battery case 3, and the original shape of retainer23 is resumed.Thus undesired slipping of the battery case 3 from head 25 lamp body 1 i-s prevented by the resilient action of - I ~ •• Vv f . ^ | '■■■ ■ .c. 1 ,0/ \ V x. retainer 23. In the conventional battery case attaching unit as described above, what prevents slipping of battery case 3 from head lamp body 1 is only the resilient force of retainer 23. Therefore, if a strong vibration or the like is exerted on head lamp body 1 and such a large force is applied in the direction of slipping of battery case 3 as to exceed the resilient force of retainer 23, battery case 3 may possibly be slipped from head lamp body 1. SUMMARY OF TKS INVENTION An object of the present invention is zo improve reliability in attachment of a battery case attaching unit used for a component for bicycles and motorcycles. Another object of the present invention is to prevent slipping of a battery case caused by vibration or the like, in a battery case attaching unit used for a component for bicycles and motorcycles. a component for the bicycle or the motorcycle detachably mountable on said attaching piece and having a housing which receives a battery case accommodating a battery therein, and retaining means operating between a portion of said housing and a portion which cooperates with said attaching piece, the retaining means cooperating with a recess portion provided at said battery case and having a first protrusion that moves in a direction towards the portion cooperating with said attaching piece when said battery case is gradually inserted into the housing said first protrusion returning to its original position when accommodation of said battery case within the housing is 5 complete, cooperation of the first protrusion of the retaining means and said recess acting to prevent slipping of said battery case from said housing; and wherein a portion of said attaching piece prevents movement of said first protrusion of said retaining means when said component is mounted on said attaching piece with said battery case accommodated in said housing. According to the battery case attaching unit structured as described above, when the component for the 15 bicycle or the motorcycle is fitted in the attaching piece with the battery case accommodated therein, movement of the first protruding portion of the retaining means is prevented by a portion of the attaching piece. Therefore, attachment of the battery case can be held rigidly, 20 improving reliability of attachment. The foregoing and other objects, features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present invention when taken in conjunction with the 25 accompanying drawings. -4- 7 / •" 3RIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig. 1 is a cross section showing a state of attachment of a component for a bicycle or a motorcycle in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. 5 Fig. 2 shows appearances of a component for a bicycle or a motorcycle and an attaching piece for the bicycle in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 3 is a perspective view taken from the line III-III of Fig. 2. 10 ?ig- 4 is a cross section of the component for a bicycle shown in Fig. 1 separated to several parts. Fig. 5 is a cross section showing the state of internal change when battery case 3 is attached in the component for a bicycle of Fig. 1. 15 Fig. 6 is a cross section showing an internal structure of a conventional component for a bicycle. DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Fig. 2 shows a structure of a head lamp body and a bracket to be attached to a part of a bicycle in 20 accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, and Fig. 3 is a rear view taken from the line III-III of Fig. 2. Referring to Fig. 2, head lamp body 1 includes a lens portion 5 for irradiating ahead the light emitted from a 25 bulb provided in front, a battery case 3 to be -3- 24 7 n n 7 accommodated at a position opposite to lens portion 5 attached thereto and a groove portion 19 partially provided with a fitting portion 28 at its lower portion. A bracket 7 includes attaching pieces 11 and 13 5 rotatable around a pin 9, a bolt 14 for fastening these attaching pieces, an attaching rubber 12 for fixing the bracket 7 rigidly on a handle or the like of a bicycle, a rail-like protruding portion 21 fitted in a groove 19 of head lamp body 1, a protruding portion 2 2 provided at a 10 portion of the protruding portion 21 to be fitted in a fitting portion 28 formed at the groove 19 of head lamp body 1, and a lever 15 for moving protruding portion 22 in a direction penetrating through this sheet. Attachment of head lamp body 1 on a bicycle or the like is effected by 15 fitting, in a sliding manner, groove 19 of head lamp body 1 to the rail-like protruding portion 21 of bracket 7 fixed on a handle or the like of the bicycle. This fitting results in fitting between protruding portion 22 and fitting portion 28 as well. Thus the head lamp body 1 20 is attached to bracket 7. As for detachment of head lamp body 1 from bracket 7, by moving lever 15 to the right direction in Fig. 3, fitting between protruding portion 22 and fitting portion 28 is released, and accordingly, by sliding groove portion 19 along the rail-like protruding 25 portion 21, head lamp body 1 can be detached from bracket -6- • • -r'j\ V ^ ■ *' VI o\ o1 \ M 7 n o -7 y v 0 / 7 . Fig. 1 is a cross section taken along the line I-I of Fig. 3 which shows a cross sectional structure with the head lamp body 1 being fitted with bracket 7. Fig. 4 5 corresponds to the cross section of Fig. 1, showing cross section of each of head lamp body 1, battery case 3, bracket 7 and retainer 23 detached respectively. Referring to these figures, internal structure of the battery case attaching unit in accordance with one 10 embodiment of the present invention will be described. The structure around bulb 17 of head lamp body 1 is the same as that of the prior art, and the structure of battery case 3 is also the same as that of the prior art. In this embodiment, the structure of retainer 23 is 15 different from the conventional example. More specifically, retainer 23 is the same as the prior art example in that it is formed of a resilient body such as ebonite, but different from the prior art in that a protrusion 27 is formed in a direction opposite to the 20 direction of protrusion 25. At a retainer holding portion 24 of the lower surface of battery case housing 4 of head lamp body 1, an opening 20 corresponding to protrusion 27 of retainer 23 is provided. In the prior art example, retainer 23 was completely accommodated in 25 batterv case housing 4 of head lamp body 1. By contrast, * \ . '■ \ 7 n o T a y g / in this embodiment, protrusion 27 of retainer 23 faces externally through opening 20, that is, faces groove portion 19. The structure of bracket 7 is basically the same as that shown in the prior art. 5 Fig. 5 shows the state of internal change when battery case 3 is inserted in the structure of Fig. 1. The internal change when battery case 3 is accommodated in battery case housing 4 will be described with reference to Figs. 5 and 1. 10 As shown in Fig. 5 (1), battery case 3 is gradually inserted to housing 4 and a tip end of inserting portion 33 of battery case 3 is brought into contact with protrusion 25 of retainer 23. Consequently, protrusion 25 of retainer 23 tends to move downward against 15 resilient force. At this time, protrusion 27 also tends to move downward. However, since there is opening 20 corresponding to protrusion 27 at retainer holding portion 24, downward movement of protrusion 27 is not prevented. 20 "When insertion of battery case 3 to housing 4 is completed, recess 26 formed at inserting portion 33 comes to correspond to protrusion 25, and thus protrusion 25 which has been forced downward is fitted in recess 26 by its resilient force, and the original statue of retainer 23 25 before insertion of battery case 3 is resumed. Fig. 5 J,2^ - * ' / -8- / . , 1 V sv. • 7 s! o 7 t u < •) / shows this state. At this state, since protrusion 27 of retainer 23 is returned to the original position as shown in the figure, it does not protrude to the side of groove 19 from retainer holding portion 24, and its position is 5 kept on the same plane as the lower surface of retainer holding portion 24. Fig. 1 shows the state of head lamp body 1 attached to bracket 7 in the state of Fig. 5 (2). As is apparent from the figure, retainer holding portion 24 at the lower 10 surface of head lamp body is in tight contact with the rail-like protrusion 21 on the top surface of bracket 7. Therefore, in this state, protrusion 27 of retainer 23 cannot move downward any longer, which means that fitting between protrusion 25 of retainer 23 and recess 26 formed 15 at inserting portion 33 of battery case 3 is firmly kept. Therefore, unless attachment of head lamp body 1 to bracket 7 is released, there is no possibility of slipping of battery case 3 from head lamp body 1. Although a head lamp is described as a component for' 20 a bicycle in the above embodiment, the present invention can be similarly applied to any other components for bicycles or motorcycles which use a battery case. Although the present invention has been described and illustrated in detail, it is clearly understood that the 25 same is by way of illustration and example only and is not -9- A 1 n n ^ ^ " b- y / to be taken by way of limitation, the scope of the present invention being limited only by the terms of the appended claims. </div>

Claims

<div class="application article clearfix printTableText" id="claims"> 247087 WHAT WE CLAIM IS:

1. A battery case attaching unit, comprising: an attaching piece fixable on a part of a bicycle or a motorcycle; a component for the bicycle or the motorcycle detachably mountable on said attaching piece and having a housing which receives a battery case accommodating a battery therein, and retaining means operating between a portion of said housing and a portion which cooperates with said attaching piece, the retaining means cooperating with a recess portion provided at said battery case and having a first protrusion that moves in a direction towards the portion cooperating with said attaching piece when said battery case is gradually inserted into the housing said first protrusion returning to its original position when accommodation of said battery case within the housing is complete, cooperation of the first protrusion of the retaining means and said recess acting to prevent slipping of said battery case from said housing; and wherein a portion of said attaching piece prevents movement of said first protrusion of said retaining means when said component is mounted on said attaching piece with said battery case accommodated in said housing.

2. The attaching unit according to claim 1, wherein said retaining means is formed of a resilient body having an inverted V shaped cross section with said first 11 247087 vertex

3. The attaching unit according to claim 2, wherein said retaining means includes a second protrusion provided at a surface opposite to that surface at which said first protrusion is formed.

4. The attaching unit according to claim 3, wherein an opening is provided in a portion of the housing that cooperates with said attaching piece, said second protrusion of said retaining means being moveable along said opening, said second protrusion being moved in a direction towards the portion that cooperates with said attaching piece, through said opening, as said battery case is inserted into the housing.

5. The attaching unit according to claim 4, wherein a portion of said attaching piece prevents movement of said second protrusion through said opening, when said component is mounted on said attaching piece.

6. The attaching unit according to claim 1, wherein said component for the bicycle or the motorcycle includes a head lamp.

7. A battery case attaching unit substantially as herein described with reference to figures 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 of the accompanying drawings. CATEYE CO., LTD By Their Attorneys 12 </div>